The government under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection is participating on engagement forums with the private sector to chat a way forward towards eradicating child labour.
In a meeting in Mombasa with the Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU), Federation of Kenya Employers, Mombasa county government, among others, stakeholders in the private sector participated in discussions on ways of mobilizing the community in the fight against child labour.
Deputy Labour Commissioner in charge of Field Services Bonaya Kase said the aim of the engagements was for the state to take a lead in reducing child labour in the country with a target of ending it by 2025.
“We are meeting stakeholders and chatting the way forward on how we can involve everybody in this fight,” he said.
Kase noted that as per the regulation in Employment Act, all children under the age of 13 must be in school, then all children between 14 to 15years should be in light work and from 16 years to 18 years, if they have to work, then they should work not in the worst forms of labour.
He added that the Employment Act also has a regulation that required employers who wished to employ children to pass through the Labour Commissioner’s office and get authorized permission for the employment.
“If you don’t have that authority from the Ministry of Labour to employ children, then you are committing an offence. This has been a slow process but where we have reached now, we are mobilizing the communities so that we can now take in action to eliminate child labour in totality,” he added.
In commemoration of the World Day against Child Labour on June 12, Kase said that in partnership with ILO, they have welcomed all stakeholders to participate and raise awareness and mobilize communities to participate and take a lead in combating child labour in Kenya.
He said there were many programmes in the country to spearhead elimination of child labour with a lot of capacity building done by labour officers, and it was through this effort that the country was able to eliminate child labour.
“We used to have children employed by big firms to work and have their names in the pay roll; these interventions have helped stop this vice. We also want to identify and prevent children from working; we are also focusing on aspects of child trafficking which has become a lucrative business by those involved,” he said.
He noted that the government wants employers to follow procedures on the Employment Act if they want to employ children.
According to Kase, there are about 2million children working in Kenya, as guided by international standards with the state progressing elimination of the same.
“The reasons as to why children are moving to child labour is a complex issue that is why we have recognized that as a country especially after ratifying those convections,” he said.
He said Kenya intends to fight child labour through education, which is free for primary schools, 100 percent transition to secondary school and then vocational training to gain skills that will help children empower themselves.
Grace Banya ILO CAPSA project Manager commended the government’s proactive stand on child labour and human trafficking.
She said the economic strains compounded by Covid-19 escalated the situation further.
Banya underscored the need to engage all stakeholders in the society including the private sector to adhere to labour standards in a bid to eradicate child labour.
She said the organization wants to ensure the private sector is aware of the issue and do something about it.
“This year 2024 World Day against Child Labour is when we are recognizing 25 years of the universal ratified convection on the rights of a child specifically the ILO convection no 182 on the worst forms of child labour. It’s one among a few conventions that has been ratified universally,” she said.
She noted that the engagement would be fruitful as they would make sure the private sector would sign on an action agenda where they were going to commit themselves to do something about child labour.
She recognized the government’s effort in putting in place a number of programmes to try and combat the vice, adding that ILO also wants the private sector to incorporate their profit in activities that would pay back to the children in the society.
“We want to appeal to the private sector that whatever profit they make they can plough back into the community to make sure that our children go to schools, have uniforms and food,” she added.
By Chari Suche
